Milk cooler



baiented Jan. 27, 1953 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE- MiLK COOLER Fred A.Hansen, Fond du Lac, Wis.

Application May 2, 1949, Serial No. 90,876

2 Claims. 1

Thisinvention relates to a new and improved milk cooler.

Promptly after milking, it is important that the dairyman cool the milkdown to fifty degrees Fahrenheit (50 F.) or lower and thereafter-to keepthe milk at a reasonably low temperature, so as` to keep the bacteriacount loW and well Within specified requirements. Milk cooling cabinetshave been available for this purpose using electrical refrigerationapparatus, to furnish the supply of ice Water, and variousY designs ofcabinets to house the milk cans containing the milk to be cooled, thecabinets having various designs of apparatus for circulating and/orspraying the ice water around and onto the cans to cool the contentsthereof. Most of the water circulating and/ or spraying apparatusheretofore available in milk cooling cabinets have been objectionablefrom that standpoint that there was entirely too much splashing of waterin the spraying at high velocities, so that the water did not completelyenvelop the cans for efficient cooling. These apparatuses also were notdesigned to avoid clogging of pipes and nozzles with the inevitablestraw, dirt, and sediment washed oT the cans placed in the cabinet. Itis, therefore, the principal object of my invention to avoid thosedifliculties by the provision of water distributing devices applicableover the necks of the cans, designed to handle a large volume of waterbut discharge it in a thick iilm completely enveloping the cans from topto bottom, entirely without splashing, the distributing devices servingto trap any trash that :night be washed off the cans and circulated bythe pump through the piping to the top discharge manifold, which hasdischarge pipes extending therefrom to the various can stations fordischarge into the distributing devices, the water circulating syste nbeing devoid of any sinaii orifices apt to becoin clogged and being,instead, designed to allow passage therethrough of the foreignparticles,V so that they may be caught in the distributing devices,which can be readily cleaned after each use.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig.1 is a perspective view of a milk cooling cabinet adapted for using theimproved water distributing devices made in accordance with myinvention;

Fig. 2 is an end view, some of the structural details of the cabinet aswell as of the cooling apparatus being indicated in dotted, lines;

Fig. 3 is a front View with ali, of the doors ye,- moved from thecabinet and showing how the, cans are adapted to be set in the cabinetwith the water 2 distributing devices thereon, this View also` includinga showing in dotted lines ofthe cooling coil below the can-supportingracks, and also a dotted line showing ofthe water circulating pump andits connection with the top discharge manifold;

Fig. 4 is atop View of'Fig. 3' with certain of the can-supporting racksbroken away to disclose the cooling coil therebeneath, and

Figs. 5 and 6 are two views. of one of the water distributing devices,shown on aV larger scale.

The saine reference numerals. are applied to corresponding partsthroughout the views.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 'i designates a suitablyinsulated generally rectangular cabinet providing a bottom wall 8, fullheight opposed side walls Q and I0, full height rear Wall l i, fulllength partial height iront Wall i2, and full length partial width topwall i3. whereby the front has an opening It its full length to abouttwo-thirds the depth of the cabinet, and a top opening l5 extending thefull length of the cabinet nearly half the way back from the front wall,whereby to allow easy removal and replacement of milk cans like thatshown at l, the cans being easily accessible from the front of thecabinet, and being easily slid one way or the other on the racks il thatare provided therefor in the lower portion of the cabinet in elevatedrelation to the bottom wall S, but below the top edge of the front walll2, as indicated in Fig. 3. Two front doors iS and i9 are hinged, as atEil and 2 i, to the end walls 9 and le of the cabinet, and have theiradjoining rabbeted ends overiapped so that a single hand operable latch22 on the door I9 serves to fasten the two doors. A full length topclosure 23, hinged at 2li to the top wail i3, closes the tcp opening l5,a handle 2 5 being provide on this top closure to raise and lower thesaine. The absence of any middle mullion between the two doors plus thefull length top opening makes for easy removal and replacement ci cans.The cabinet shown will accommodate seven regulation size milk cans it,two on each of the three fuit-width racks Il and one on the naif-widthfourth rack at the left hand end of the cabinet. However, cabinets oflarger and also smaller capacity may be provided.

A water level is maintained in the bottom of the cabinet just below theracks Il, as indicated by the line a-b in Fig. 3, and a cooling coil 2&5is provided the bottom of the cabinet below the racks Supported inspaced relaties to si@ bottom. wall 6 by a crosssshaped frame 2i, toinsure good circulation of water around this coil.Y

Any suitable or preferred refrigeration apparatus may be providedconnected with the ends 2S of the coil 2B, which are shown as extendingupwardly in one end of the cabinet for connection with an apparatus inthe housing 29 on top of the cabinet, but, of course, any other suitableor preferred arrangement may be provided. A sump pump 30 driven by ashaft 3i that extends downwardly to the pump through a tube 32 issuitably connected with the armature shaft of an electric motor 33mounted to operate on a vertical axis on top of the cabinet, asindicated at 3L- in Fig. 3. Pump 30 is at the far end of the cabinetaway from the coil 26, so that its intake will be assured of receivingan ample supply of ice water, regardless of the size of the ice coatingon the coil 26. This pump 3G has its discharge pipe 35 extendingupwardly therefrom and connected, as indicated at 36, with alongitudinally extending manifold 3'! suitably supported in the top ofthe cabinet on the longitudinal centerline thereof. Seven dischargenipples 38 extend forwardly and rearwardly from the manifold` 3l and aredirected downwardly at an acute angle to discharge the ice waterapproximately into the centers of the water distributing devices ce thatare placed like caps on the necks of the cans ES. The devices 39, theconstruction of which will be more fully described presently, serveprincipally to cause the water to flow downwardly over the cans at lowvelocity and in a thick nlm, so as to completely envelop the cans fromtop to bottom for most ecient cooling, but they are also designed toserve a secondary purpose, namely,

as strainers to catch and retain therein any particles of trash, dirt,and sediment washed oir the cans and carried in the ice water pumpedthrough the circulating system by the p i 1 This circulating system, itwill now be noti i devoid of any small orices, the pipes v-Si beinglarge enough to allow free passage of the foreign particles therethroughwith the water, and the nipples 38 also having large enough bores toreduce to a minimum any likelihood of their being clogged by suchparticles. The trash and dirt collected in the water distributingdevices 39 can easily be cleaned out between uses. The location of themanifold 3l in the extreme top portion of the cabinet is of advantagebecause that, together with the open front and open top construction ofthe cabinet, leaves the way clear to move the cans easily into and outof the cabinet without danger of damaging cans as well as the nozzlesthat might otherwise be struck by the cans, besides greatly reducinglikelihood of injury to the workmans hands in handling the cans. Also,because of the large amount of water circulated with my improved systemand the novel combination disclosed, there is avoided the necessity forany complicated and other devices to insure proper circula-tion of thewater over the ice bank or cooling coil after it has been passed overthe cans. The water is circulated so fast in the present cooler that itis brought repeatedly into Contact with the ice formation every time thepump 3d is operated. The racks l1 are of skeleton construction, so thatthe water will circulate freely through the same into contact with theice bank around the coil 2S. The water distributing devices 391, besidesserving the two functions already mentioned, serve to prevent splashing'as they catch and retain all of the water discharged in large volume andat high velocity from nipples 33, the water distributing devices thendirecting the water gently downwardly in a thick iilm onto the CTI necksof the cans for complete enveloprnent of the cans from top to bottom. Ifdesired, the nipples 38 may have air entraining slots provided therein,as indicated at 40, such slots being now commonly provided on non-splashkitchen sink faucets, whereby to further reduce splashing in the presentcooler and thereby proportionately increase cooling eiiciency, it beingrecognized that water discharged in jets or splashed against a can onlysplashes away again instead of running down the surface thereof.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, it will be seen that the water distributingdevices 39 are each made from two pieces of sheet metal, preferablygalvanized to prevent rusting, there being a ringshaped body fil withradially crimped and tapered top and bottom portions 132 and 43, and acircular disk M fitting closely inside and welded or soldered atcircumferentially spaced points, as at 55, to the ring lli intermediatethe ends thereof and in a plane normal to the axis thereof, said diskhaving its marginal edge portion 46 radially crimped, like portions i2and 43, and bent downwardly, so as to leave a multiplicity of smallopenings el between the scallops defined on the peripheral edge of thedisks crimped portion and the inside or" the ring di, through which thewater pocketed in the reservoir or receptacle d3 formed in ring Si abovethe disk llt will be discharged gently in that many small streamsdownwardly on the inside of the ring and in the corrugations in thecrimped lower edge portion L33, so as to be directed, without splashing,onto the neck portion @Si of the can i6. The inward inclination of thetop portion Z2 is also important :from the standpoint of retaining allof the water caught in receptacle 48 from the associated nipple theinward inclination preventing the water from Welling up over the sideaway from i the nipple 38. The closely spaced small streams of waterfrom openings 4l and registering corrugations i3 merge when they comeinto contact with the neck of the can to form the thick nlm of coldwater mentioned before as enveloping the can from top to bottom. Thismethod of circulation and distribution of the ice water is novel andmakes for quicker cooling of the milk than previous methods, as testshave delinitely proved. When a distributing device 33 is in placeproperly on top of a can, there is no danger of any of the cold watergetting into the milk even if the usual can cap or cover is left off.

En operation, the electric motor 33 for the pump is controlled by atiming switch d, and a thermostat (not shown) controls the operation ofthe refrigeration unit at 2e. During initial cooling, right after thecans of milk have been placed in the cooler, the pump te is operatedcontinuously for about one hour, whereby to get the milk cooled down toa temperature of fifty degrees Fahrenheit (50 F.) or less, which is thetemperature usually prescribed by law. The coil 2S keeps the water a temerature of about thirty-three degrees (33) to thirty-live degrees FFahrenheit (35 FJ, as regulated by the thermostat mentioned. To preventthe milk warming up during the night, the timer switch 55 throws themotor 33 into operation to operate the pump Se about two minutes eachhour for the next eleven hours. During the day, when there are no cansin the cooler, the pump @d will not be operated at all. The presentsystem of cooling is more positive and trouble-free than those relyingsolely upon thermostats and other controls. The sump below the racks I'l is mainly for the formation of a sizeable ice bank and not so muchfor storage of that much water, as my system operates most eicientlywith a small amount of water. The cooling coil 26 is so designed andarranged that there is no danger of ice forming at or near the pump 30.With my cooler there is no need for milk agitators or stirring devices,due to the rapidity of cooling. This insures cleaner milk and a lowerbacteria count, it being well known that stirring devices should bethoroughly sterilized after each use, whereas that is seldom done by theaverage farmer, with the result that otherwise pure milk may becomecontaminated even though it has been properly cooled. It is, therefore,important to operate a cooler, as here, with the cans kept completelycovered'at all times.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding ofthe objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims havebeen drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A iiuid distributing device adapted to be applied to a lled canhaving an upper necked filler opening portion to effect heat exchangebetween the contents of the can and the fluid distributed over andrunning down by gravity on the external surface of the can, said devicecomprising a sheet metal ring, the lower edge portion of said ring beingcrimped radially and tapered inwardly along its entire periphery toestablish an inwardly tapered array of closely spaced radialcorrugations, and an imperforate circular sheet metal plate ofsubstantially the same diameter as the inner diameter of said ring abovethe corrugated portion secured to and extending transversely of saidring intermediate the upper and lower edge portions to thereby establishtherein a receptacle for iluid above said plate and a fluid distributingportion below said plate, said plate being adapted to rest on top of thenecked portion of said can for support of the plate and ring, said platebeing tapered downwardly and including closely spaced peripheraldrainage openings between the entire periphery of said plate and saidring for flow of fluid downwardly therethrough along the inner surfaceof said ring below said plate and discharge from the tapered lower edgeportion of said ring onto the necked portion of said can in asubstantially tubular film enveloping the necked portion of the can.

2. A fluid distributing device as defined in claim 1 wherein the upperedge portion of said ring is also crimped radially along its entireperiphery to establish an inwardly extending taper thereon.

FRED A. HANSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the rile ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 359,261 Kennen Mar. 15, 1887528,463 Busch Oct. 30, 1894 577,579 Hubbard Feb. 23, 1897 855,371 Whiteet al May 28, 1907 971,290 Mansor Sept. 27, 1910 1,032,657 Briggs July16, 1912 1,186,944 Rice June 13, 1916 1,639,857 Planski Aug. 23, 19271,679,302 Foster July 31, 1928 2,031,274 McKay Feb. 17, 1936 2,189,146Little Feb. 6, 1940 2,210,846 Aghnides Aug. 6, 1940 2,256,971Chamberlain Sept. 23, 1941 2,316,832 Aghnides Apr. 20, 1943 2,394,684Haas Feb. 12, 1946 2,411,833 McMahon Nov. 26, 1946

